Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Voice of the Faithful (VOTF) awarded its "Priest of Integrity" award to Fr. James Scahill, who has used his pulpit to call upon Pope Benedict XVI to step down while denouncing various Church officials for the way they handled reports of abuse. Fr. Scahill knew that Father Richard Lavigne was bothering children and never said or did anything about it back in the early 1990s. See here. The question is: how much did Fr. Scahill know? Did he know children were being sexually abused? How were these children being "bothered"?

It looks like VOTF has its own definition of "integrity." More on Fr. Richard Lavigne here.

I call upon his Bishop to remove him from any and all pastoral duties effective immediately. A priest who calls the Church evil and engages in such hypocrisy does not belong in ministry. The scandal he is causing is grounds for his removal under Canon Law. He is not in communion with the Church and his heretical views are only confusing good faithful Catholics.

VOTF continues to spread the lie (and this constitutes calumny) that then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger refused to defrock a priest who molested 200 deaf boys. This lie has been refuted by Father Joseph Fessio, S.J. in a Blog post which was posted at this Blog. Additionally, the Washington Post has refuted this calumny.

VOTF's press release may be found here:http://www.votf.org/pressrelease/press-release-for-immediate-release/9788

Here is the core of that statement:

"The clergy abuse scandal has truly reached the top. Reports today indicate that the Vatican did not defrock a priest who molested as many as 200 deaf boys. The person in charge of the Curia office that refused—despite multiple appeals from the bishop of the diocese—to defrock the priest was then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. This grievous equivocation, this conscious choice to secretly excuse a priest pedophile, has led to even more sorrow in the Church. Church officials, at the highest levels of the administrative structure, placed a higher value on the temporary image of institution than on the ongoing safety of innocent children.

Voice of the Faithful repeats the call we made last week for transparency and accountability..."

If VOTF were truly concerned about "transparency and accountability," the organization would not have awarded its "Priest of Integrity" award to Fr. Scahill.

If VOTF really wants to promote "transparency and accountability," its members should remove the plank from their own eyes and acknowledge the calumny the organization is guilty of spreading.

Who,in the middle of this horrible abomination of sexual abuse is going to help us move on and renew the Catholic Church back to the church that Jesus gave up his life for. We are getting no solutions from the College of Cardinals or from the Pope, at least none that I have heard about. The solution is obvious, remove and prosecute proven offenders with no pensions regardless of rank. Cora

Cora, liberal columnist John Allen told a large audience at Boston College that, "The truth is that since 2001 no senior official in the Vatican has done more to weed abuser priests out of ministry and acknowledge the sufferings of victims than the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger." See my post entitled "A proper perspective on Pope Benedict XVI."

Pope Benedict XVI has also met with victims 4 times. This when no other Pope ever met with victims. Therefore, it is unjust and unfair to criticize the Holy Father.

The Holy Father's words bring hope to the faithful:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D9FLUKB00&show_article=1

So do his actions. Now, I must ask: what have YOU done to ease the sufferings of victims? It is always easy to be critical of others but we need to do our part. I have stood with victims in the past. In fact, I was ostracized within my Parish when I stood with a female victim and her family and against 117 priests - all of whom signed a letter to the Editor of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette in support of the priest-abuser. I have written on the problem of sexual abuse and particularly the fact that most of the abuse has been homosexual in nature.

Let's strive to do more than Father James Scahill. He arrogantly issues a vestra culpa (your fault) rather than a humble mea culpa (my fault). And yet, he knew of Father Richard Lavigne "bothering" children from the early 1990s and even having had "sleepovers" but said nothing.

Do we pray as we should for our priests? I offer my Rosary and other prayers every day for priests. Do we strive to support our good and faithful priests? Or do we simply sit back in a pharisaical fashion while blaming everybody but ourselves?

Trith be told Cora, we ALL are in need of reform - including the sinner typing these words. And any authentic reform must always begin with ourselves. How can we expect to bring Jesus message of prayer, penance and conversion to others when we are not living it ourselves?

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About Me

Born in Bitburg, Germany,
Paul Melanson is a Catholic lay-philosopher and apologist whose work has appeared in many publications and websites including The Union Leader, The Wanderer, Seattle Catholic, Newsblaze, Helium, and Amazines. He has been interviewed by The National Catholic Register, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the television newsmagazine Chronicle.